A streetside glimpse of India from Bangalore - no paid news, no lobbying, no plants, no stringing along - just pure viewpoints. My own political education. Satire Alert (At times)!
Because, nothing is permanent, only interim!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

There are two methods of shopping. One, the antiseptic variety where you go to a lifeless faceless mall, pick up the stuff you want, run through the cashier and thats it. And the other, is well, the equivalent of riding a horse into pitched battle sword in hand fighting it out all through the way and winning your prize. What would you prefer? Most men would prefer the former, even the most battle scarred veteran. I leave it open as to what women would prefer.

The malls in India are making shopping the forgettable experience that it is with the former. Well, not exactly, but as compared to the latter experience that is. So, where can you get an experience like this. If you have a truckload of patience to try it out or even to accompany one who can try it out, try it out in some bazaar - most cities have a shopping bazaar that you can use to test your skills. I am sure there are many other bazaars and for die hard negotiators everything in the world is negotiable, vegetables and bus tickets included.

And of course, for the die hard negotiator, this is like gaming or gambling or even the share market. Go play...

Heres a primer. How to negotiate like an Indian. This is slightly dated, and only because I wanted to write a similar piece myself. And perhaps I will pretty soon...